Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ported to Intel’s smartphone Atom processor

Intel is busy with IDF and while it’s mostly focusing on its next generation CPU architecture, Haswell, there was some good news about Android too. Namely, that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has been ported to work with the smartphone-oriented Atom processor.

There are a number of devices that use the Z2460 chip, including the Lenovo K800, Orange Santa Clara, Lava XOLO X900, ZTE Grand X IN and soon, a brand new droid from Motorola.

As usual, the update is not instantly available – it first has to pass carrier acceptance testing before it’s pushed out to users. Once that’s done Jelly Bean should be seeded as an over-the-air update.

So, there’s a good chance that the Motorola phone will run Jelly Bean at launch. If rumors are to be believed, the device that will be announced on September 18 will be a RAZR M version with an Atom CPU. It will also be the first Atom-powered phone from a mainstream maker, so Intel might actually start claiming some market share.

There are a couple of new Atom processors on the way, codenamed Merrifield, which will use a 22nm manufacturing process (vs. 32nm for the current Medfield chips). That will improve power efficiency, but the first Merrifield devices are expected in early 2013, so we’re most likely looking at a standard Medfield for the new Motorola smartphone.